So glad I didn’t attempt to stay awake for THAT one. When the Sox got off to the 3-0 start, I thought to myself “Self; you should go to bed right now on a positive note.” Instead I stayed awake for the first 5 innings. When I let the dogs out at 5:45 and saw the game ended around 2:30, I was thankful I got my beauty sleep.

A nut-crushing loss like that reminds me of a couple of west coast games where I DID stay up to late only to endure a loss…A 19 inning affair vs. Seattle in 2000, and an 18 inning jaunt in Texas in 2001. I think after that last one I decided it wasn’t necessary to stay up late for the Red Sox for otherwise meaningless games.

So the positive thing is the bullpen had a nice outing (except for that stiff Lopez). Not much positive to say about Matsuzaka being worn out from the WBC. Or the Red Sox offense being worn out from…well, I don’t know what they are worn out from.

Regarding the Beckett thing…what a load of crap that MLB feels the need to undermine the on-field umpires. Here’s what crew chief Joe West had to say after the game:

“He took too long delivering the ball,” said crew chief Joe West. “Abreu called time, which is normal. Then Beckett, in the middle of throwing the ball, threw the ball. They should throw the ball, rather than risk an injury.

“Did he throw it up and in? Yeah. Do we believe he threw it at Abreu? No. Would we have warned him had both benches not emptied? Probably not, but because both benches emptied, we did issue a warning,” explained West.

But Yankee Bob Watson feels the need to take it a step further. What a douche.